The Hunt
by Enthusiastic Fish
Summary: Tim is driving through the woods when his car breaks down. He finds himself on the run, the target of a grisly annual hunt. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is my annual Halloween story, which is funny since I don't even like Halloween. It's only a two-shot and it was inspired by "The Howling" by Within Temptation.

 **Disclaimer:** As always, I do not own NCIS or its characters. I'm not making any money.

* * *

 **The Hunt  
** by Enthusiastic Fish

 **Chapter 1**

 _He ran through the trees, searching for any avenue of escape. He could hear them gaining on him. His breath was loud and harsh in his ears, but it couldn't drown out the inhuman laughter behind him. They were getting closer and closer._

 _He didn't look back. He knew that nothing good would come of looking back. He just kept running. If he could only evade them until the sunrise._

 _Then, suddenly, the sound of pursuit was gone. He kept running, but he couldn't help but wonder where they had gone._

 _He stopped and looked back._

 _There were only trees in the darkness._

 _Gasping for breath, he looked all around._

 _They couldn't be gone. They had to have their victim._

 _They had to be here somewhere._

 _Then, in the distance, he heard a shriek._

 _For just a moment, he couldn't decide what to do, but then, his humanity reasserted itself and he ran toward the sound, figuring there was no chance of getting there in time, but knowing he had to try._

 _He ran through the trees and stopped in a small clearing._

 _They were there, blood dripping from their mouths into the snow._

 _One turned abruptly and looked at him, its blue eyes glowing brightly and piercingly into his._

 _The mouth curled into a feral smile._

You live.

 _He was surprised that there was a voice. They were just animals._

As are you.

" _No. Not like you."_

No, not like you. We have fed. The price is paid for another year. You live.

 _Then, he heard a howl and they began to run away from him, but they vanished from sight long before they should have._

 _Left alone in the trees, he looked at the body left behind. It was impossible to tell who it had been, if he had even known._

 _After an unknown period, he looked to the east and saw the light of the dawn. He had lived._

 _He ran out of the woods._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

 _Present..._

There was an unpleasant clunk and Tim grimaced.

 _I knew I should have stopped in the last town. I have one more day off. Why was I pushing to get back to DC tonight?_

The car made another unfortunate sound and the engine cut out, leaving Tim to roll to a gradual stop. He leaned back against the seat and sighed. Of course, this would happen in the middle of a forest.

Irritated with himself, Tim opened his car door and looked around. He didn't know how far he was from civilization, but he hoped he had cell service. The question really was who to call.

"Ghostbusters," he muttered.

He looked at his phone and saw only two bars, but that would be enough. He decided to call Tony.

" _Hello, you've reached Tony. Leave your name and number and I'll think about calling you back."_

Tim smiled. "Hey, Tony. This is Tim. I'm a couple of hours north of DC and my car conked out in the middle of the woods. I...I'm going to see if I can get it going again, but I'm not sure how far I am from the last town I passed through. It was Ville Loop or something like that. It was tiny. I'm not really wanting to start walking. If you can help me out of this, I won't even be annoyed if you bug me about it. At least..."

Suddenly, Tim heard something. It sounded like someone running.

"...wait a minute..."

A man came running through the trees. He saw Tim and slowed for only a moment. Then, he resumed his pace, but changed his angle so that he was running right at Tim.

"You can't just stand here! Run!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you want to live or die? Run!"

The man grabbed Tim by the arm and yanked him away from the car. Tim was so surprised that his phone flew out of his hands and landed on the road.

"Wait. I need my phone. I..."

"You won't be needing _anything_ if you stay where you are!"

Then, Tim looked back the way the man had come and he thought he saw something glowing blue.

"What is that?" he asked.

The man looked.

"It's death," he said.

He yanked on Tim's arm once more and Tim allowed himself to be pulled along.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Boss? Listen to this," Tony said, with a worried expression.

He put his phone on speaker. Gibbs listened as Tim started off speaking normally. Then, being told that he had to run. The phone hit the ground and they heard muffled voices.

" _What is that?"_

They couldn't understand the response, but there was silence for a second or two and then...

"What _is_ that, Boss?" Tony asked.

It sounded like something wuffling, almost like a dog, but it wasn't a dog. Then, there were multiple running feet...paws...something.

And a howl.

"I've never heard anything like that before," Tony said.

"Where's Ville Loop?"

"Never heard of it."

Tony sat down and started searching, hoping that there wouldn't be anything to this.

But he was afraid there was.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The man shoved Tim into the icy-cold water of a shallow creek, pulled him out the other side and then into some kind of cave.

"What is going on?" Tim asked, gasping for breath.

"Keep your voice down!" the man said in a furious whisper. "They can't smell, but they _can_ hear."

"What _are_ they?"

"Punishment."

"What?"

"What in the world were you doing in the middle of the woods at this time of night?"

"Heading home. My car died."

Then, they heard a howl. The man stiffened and put his finger to his lips. They both stopped moving.

For a few minutes, it was like the whole world stopped. Tim was completely confused, but he couldn't deny that those _things_ had been the most frightening animals he ever seen in his life. So he kept quiet and tried not to breathe too loudly.

After what seemed an interminable amount of time, the man let out a soft exhale of relief.

"We have some time," he said, still keeping his voice low.

"Time for what?"

"To rest and figure out how to keep them from killing us...or rather one of us."

"Who are you? What are they? What's going on?" Tim asked.

"I'm Will. They're inhuman beasts. They're trying to kill us. Before, they were just trying to kill me. Now, either of us are a target."

"Why?"

Will actually smiled a little.

"Because my ancestors were idiots."

"What do you mean?"

"About 200 years ago, a man came to my village. He was alone. The village was insular. They didn't trust him, and when a terrible tragedy struck, he was blamed for it. They tried to kill him, and then, found out that they'd made a very bad decision. Just before they could execute him, he cast a spell."

Tim couldn't help it. He scoffed.

"Have _you_ ever seen animals with glowing blue eyes like that? No? Then, maybe you should check your disbelief for a few minutes," Will said.

"Sorry."

"He said that if they killed him, they would bring a curse down on the village. Every year, a victim would go into the woods and the beasts would kill him. Only one, but it would be one every year until someone managed to survive the night. Only then would the beasts be satisfied. One innocent victim every year on this night."

"And they killed him."

"Yep. Strung him up...and then, they found out that the death they were avenging had been committed by one of their own." Will shook his head. "And you can't take back death, and no one can leave the village, not permanently. We're called back every year. I tried to resist it, but I can't. No one can."

"And no one has survived the night?"

"I did. Ten years ago."

"But...you said that..."

"They found another victim, just like they would have found you if I hadn't made you run. They aren't picky."

Tim swallowed.

"But I'm not from your village."

"Like I said, they're not picky. The only requirement is that the person is innocent, just like he was."

"Oh."

"We can't stay here for much longer. There's no place to run and they're not stupid. I thought they were just animals, but they're not. They're worse."

Will crept to the entrance to the cave and looked around.

"It looks clear, for now. We should get moving. We have hours yet that we have to avoid them. If I thought it was possible, I'd just tell you to get out of the woods, but they're closed once the sun goes down. We're stuck here until the sun rises again."

"Has anyone ever tested it?"

"No one who's survived, but if it was that simple, someone in the last 200 years would have tried it, don't you think?"

"Probably...but I got in here. It was definitely after dark when I started through the woods."

Will stopped and looked at him.

"You have a point. It would give us something to try, at any rate." He looked around and got his bearings. "The closest edge would be that way," he said, pointing to the east.

"Okay."

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Tim."

"Where were you headed?"

"DC. I was in a hurry to get back."

"And now, you might never get back at all. Sorry."

"Me, too."

They left the relative safety of the cave and began to walk eastward, hoping to reach the edge of the forest.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"I'm not getting _anything_ , Tony," Abby said. "Not one blip from Tim's phone!"

"I don't like this, Boss," Tony said. "We should be able to figure out where he is, at least. I don't think this is nothing."

Gibbs sat back and looked at Abby and then at Tony.

"Put out a BOLO. Abby, keep trying. Tony..."

"We're going to see if we can find him," Tony said. "Right. I'll get the BOLO going and meet you at the car."

Gibbs nodded. He didn't like what he had heard on the message. He didn't like that Abby couldn't trace Tim's phone at all. He didn't like that he didn't even know exactly where Tim had been. He had requested time off and then gone. He'd been strangely reticent to share any details and Gibbs hadn't pried.

Now, he wished that he had.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"I don't feel like we're getting anywhere," Tim said.

Will stopped, abruptly.

"I don't think we are. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy."

"So why was I able to get in here?"

"Maybe it's an entrance only. No exit. I don't know."

"So should we keep trying to get out?"

"I don't know. There are still hours until dawn. It's something to do."

"You said they can't smell."

"Yeah."

"How do you know that?"

"Because when I was here before, I was so close to them, that if they'd had any sense of smell at all, they would have found me. They didn't. They're not animals."

"You said that before. What do you mean? They sure look like animals to me."

"They spoke to me," Will said. "Although _spoke_ is the wrong word. It's not words they used. Or it. Just one of them. He told me that I would live because they had found another victim. I don't know who it was. There wasn't enough left to tell. That's when I knew that this is truly our curse. The beasts come to take one of us in payment for the life that was taken all those years ago."

"So...why are you here again?" Tim asked. "Surely you wouldn't be asked to pay the price a second time."

Will was still for a long moment, looking around the dark, silent forest. Then, he turned back to Tim. Tim couldn't see Will's expression. It was too dark.

"It was my ancestor who led the mob that killed him, even after he made his curse. It's my family who brought this on the village. I won't allow anyone else to die for it. That's why I want to survive. My family brought the curse. My family should end it. My death won't end it. My life will. That's why I'm here. I volunteered to come. My mother tried to stop me, but I came anyway."

Another silence fell, and Tim could sense his determination. He clapped him on the shoulder.

"Then, I'll help you do it. Whatever it takes," Tim said.

He could barely see Will smile.

"Thank you."

Then, they both heard the howling coming from behind them. They turned.

"They're always behind. Never ahead. I don't know if that means anything, but they always pursue."

Another howl. Closer this time.

"And they're pursuing, now. Time to run, Tim."

Tim nodded and the two of them took off, still running vaguely eastward in the hopes of escaping the forest, but not really thinking it would work.

They were getting closer. They could feel it.

Then, suddenly, Will tripped and fell. He cried out in pain and grabbed at his ankle. Tim skidded to a stop and turned. ...and he saw them.

They looked like wolves, at first...but only at first. As he turned, he saw them coming. Big. Black.

Hungry.

There would only be one victim.

If he kept running, the victim would be Will, and he could get away.

If he kept running, he would be abandoning Will to death when he could have done the same thing to Tim in the beginning.

If he stopped, he had no idea what would happen.

If he stopped, he would be true to what he believed was the right thing to do.

He took a breath and stepped in front of Will, between him and the beasts.

Their eyes were a bright, glowing blue. Piercing in a way that Gibbs' eyes never would be, never _could_ be. ...because there was death in those eyes.

And in a single, eternal moment, he was sucked into those eyes.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

They drove north for a couple of hours, following what Tim had said in the beginning of his message.

"What was McGee doing?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. He just said it was something he needed. You know he's been kind of off ever since his dad died," Tony said. "He'd hide it, but when he didn't realize anyone was watching..."

Gibbs nodded. Whether this had been about the Admiral or not, Tim _had_ been struggling with that a little bit. If he had decided he needed to deal with it on his own, well, Gibbs couldn't blame him for that.

"He said he was in a forest. Just past a village called Ville Loop, but it's not on the map. It's not in my GPS. Whatever this place is, it must be tiny and out of the way to be completely missing."

"No one had heard of it at the gas station."

"Heck, I don't even see any forest up here," Tony said. "What time is it?"

"Past three."

"I really don't like this, Boss."

"Yeah."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

 _He was no longer in the forest._

 _He was in a circle of darkness, surrounded by the bright, blue eyes. He could discern nothing more than the eyes. No form. No shape. Just the eyes._

You are not one of them.

 _As Will had said, it wasn't words. It was something else, but it was real thought._

"No, I'm not."

You may leave.

"Not without Will."

He is one of them.

"Doesn't matter. He hasn't done anything wrong."

 _The eyes crowded in closer._

" _You may live to regret that."_

Then, Tim was flung backward and he toppled over.

Back in the forest, in the trees, with the beasts coming closer. Tim scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could.

He stood over Will and picked up a branch. It was a poor weapon, but it was all he had.

"Tim, run," Will said. He tried to get up and jostled his ankle, causing him to moan and fall back again.

"No. I told you. No matter what it takes."

The beasts were there, all around them. Howling.

It was a terrifying sound. If he somehow got out of this alive, Tim didn't think he'd ever forget it, no matter how much he'd want to.

"The first one of you who comes at us will get a branch in the face," Tim said, looking at them all. "I don't care if I don't survive beyond that, but you'll feel that much."

 _You would fight us?_

"If I have to. I promised Will that I would help him survive the night. He _volunteered_ for this to try and stop the sacrifice of his people. He willingly put himself in danger to help others."

 _They killed._

"Yes. Once! Only once, and this has been happening year after year! Hasn't the price been paid?"

The largest of the beasts came closer and closer until it was right in front of Tim. It was huge. On all fours it was almost as tall as Tim himself was.

 _How can the price be truly paid? No restitution is possible for a life taken. Lives given after do not restore the life that was lost. No matter how many lives are given to us, they cannot replace the life that was forcibly taken._

"No, it can't, but the lives that are taken can't be returned, either. It's infinite loss against infinite loss. It's all infinity, no matter what."

The beast sat down on its haunches and stared at Tim and Will for a long time. How long, Tim didn't know. Somehow, both he and Will sensed that movement would be a bad idea.

 _You would die for him?_

"Yes," Tim said, instantly. "I don't want to die, but I will if that will stop this slaughter."

The beast looked at Will.

 _You would die if it would end this?_

"Yes, but I know it won't. No deaths have ended it, and members of my family have already died out here." Will sat up as best he could. "I would die to save the generations coming after me."

The beast howled again and began walking around them. The other beasts followed suit.

 _An innocent life was taken._

 _An innocent life was lost._

 _A blood price was demanded._

 _A blood price must be paid._

 _Grief is not the answer._

 _Guilt will not assuage._

 _There is a way to slake our thirst._

 _A sacrifice must be made._

Before Tim could react, the mass of beasts leapt, all as one.

...at Will.

Tim was thrown to the side, against a tree, and then slumped to the ground. He thought he heard screaming.

Screams.

From all around him.

Voices calling.

Darkness dropped over him.

He heard no more.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"It's almost five a.m., Boss," Tony said. "What do we do?"

"Find a hotel and get a couple hours of sleep. Then, we look some more."

Tony nodded reluctantly. While he knew that none of this was his fault, he couldn't help but wonder if Tim would still be missing if he had been able to answer when he'd called.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Slowly, ever so slowly, sound returned, and Tim struggled to open his eyes.

When he finally succeeded, he wished he hadn't.

The beast was there, leaning over him, staring at him.

Tim took a strangled, panicked breath.

 _You live._

Tim stared. He couldn't think of what to say to that declaration.

 _You fear._

"Yes," he whispered.

 _You feared before._

"Yes."

 _At last, the price has been paid._

 _The sacrifice has been made._

 _We come no more._

Then, the beast pulled back and vanished from view.

Tim sat up quickly, and saw them running away.

...but for just a moment, he could have sworn that the biggest one had become a man. That man turned and looked back with bright, blue eyes.

Then, they were gone.

Breathing heavily, hardly daring to look and see what was left of Will, Tim got to shaky feet. As he did, a glint caught his eye and he turned.

To the east.

To the rising sun.

Will had almost made it.

He watched the sun come up, not wanting to see what had happened to Will. It probably wouldn't be pretty.

"Most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen."

The voice startled him anew and Tim turned around to see Will standing behind him.

Pale, shaky...and alive.

"I thought that..." Tim began.

"So did I," Will said.

"What happened?"

Will swallowed. "He said that...that I was not an innocent victim. I was a willing sacrifice. ...and that made all the difference. Then...I was somewhere else for a while... for forever it seemed. Then, I was back here...and there's the sun. I never thought I'd see it again."

"He said the price had been paid," Tim said. "That they wouldn't be coming back."

"It's true?"

"I don't know. You know more about this than I do."

Will smiled weakly. "Yeah...maybe. ...but there's the sun, and I'm alive. And no one else died."

Tim nodded.

"Well...Tim, since your car probably isn't working still, let's walk back to the village. You deserve breakfast, at least."

"You think you can walk back?"

"I think I just twisted it. I'll be fine."

Tim took a deep breath and let it out, slowly.

"I think I could eat."

"Then, come on. Let me give the hospitality that my family wouldn't give a stranger 200 years ago."

They walked together in silence, picking their way through the forest back to the road. Will had to lean on Tim until they reached it. It looked like they hadn't covered any distance at all in their desperate flight, but neither of them commented on that.

As they walked, Tim thought about what he had seen. Was it the spirit of the man they had killed? Had he just been dazed and seeing things? He'd probably never know, but he decided not to tell Will about it. It wouldn't matter and he couldn't even decide if it had been real.

After a few minutes, they reached Tim's car. On a whim, Tim checked to see if it would work, thinking that maybe whatever force had operated to keep them from escaping the forest had also stopped his car. Unfortunately, there was no such luck and they had to keep walking. The same exhausted silence reigned for a while.

"Why?" Will asked, suddenly.

"Why what?"

"Why would you be willing to die for me? You were only here because of my heritage. It had nothing to do with you. You could have run and never looked back. Why?"

"I told you I'd help you. I promised."

"That doesn't matter."

Tim shrugged uncomfortably, not really wanting to get into it.

Will stopped walking.

"Really, Tim. Why would you risk your life for the insanity of a perfect stranger?"

"Because...I guess I...thought that at least there was something I could do, this time."

"What was the last time?"

"My dad died a few months ago. Cancer. We spent a _long_ time fighting or ignoring each other. We were finally getting on an even keel when he decided to stop trying to beat the cancer and just let nature take its course. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't convince him to keep trying. I couldn't cure his cancer. I just had to stand there and watch as he died. I just...I had this feeling that _finally_ I could do something. I didn't have to stand aside. My actions could make a difference, and they couldn't for my dad."

Will stared at him for a while and then nodded.

"I think I understand. My dad died in the forest when I was ten years old. The victim every year is chosen by lot. They cycle through the families to keep it as fair as sacrifice can be. I watched him say good-bye to my mother and then leave the house and never come back. It changes you. There's something that you really can't explain when you see something like that. I knew that my time would come, eventually. When it did and I survived, I didn't want to go back to the village and have them realize that someone had survived...but not really done anything."

He stopped talking for a few seconds and they resumed walking. After a while, Will continued.

"I told myself that I wasn't going to let someone die in my place again. I told myself that I'd do it right. ...but then, I lost my courage, and you think about all those people who died when they could have been saved if only someone had been willing...if only _I_ had been willing to step forward. Too many have died who didn't have to."

"You can't think of it that way," Tim said.

"No, I come from a long line of selfish people. It took two centuries for us to be evolved enough to think of the possibility of putting ourselves between death and the innocent."

"But you did."

"But I wasn't thinking of it that way."

"It doesn't matter," Tim said. "We don't usually have the chance to think of it in the way that it ends up."

"And you?"

Tim smiled a little. "As much as I don't like what I had to deal with tonight, I feel...like I can take a breath, a real breath. ...but all I want now is to sleep and maybe have something to eat."

The sun penetrated the trees and Tim turned toward the light. He closed his eyes and let the light play over his eyelids. He really did have a sense of freedom that he hadn't before. Strange that it had taken something like this to break him out of his funk, but it had.

"We're almost there, Tim. Come on."

Will pulled at his arm and they continued their walk. After a few more minutes, the trees thinned out and they were coming into a small town, a village as Will had said. There were a few houses, what looked like a small inn, a gas station and a café. That was all.

"Welcome to Ashland...or as we call it _Ville Loup_."

"What does that mean?"

"Village of the Wolf. There was no word to describe what they were, but we did our best. We're not on any maps, but we do get the occasional group and in the summer, a lot of hikers will stop here."

"It's small."

"Very." Then, Will suddenly raised his voice and started shouting. "It's over! They're gone! They're not coming back!"

While that kind of noise, early in the morning, would get people throwing stuff at him in cities, here, it evoked a different response. People came running out of their homes, some still in their pajamas, all crowding around Tim and Will, asking a million questions (or maybe the same question a million times; Tim couldn't tell).

Tim said nothing, letting Will do all the talking. People were asking to tell them it was true, over and over. Tim wasn't even noticed.

That was just fine with Tim. He didn't need to be the center of all this attention. He started to edge away from the crowd.

"...but it was Tim who made it possible."

Tim froze as Will suddenly turned back and saw him. He smiled and waved Tim over.

"I didn't really do much," Tim said. "Really."

Will shook his head and spoke in a low voice.

"We need to remember what we did wrong before and what went right this time, Tim. It's too easy to forget. You're part of that."

Tim nodded reluctantly.

"Okay."

He stood uncomfortably while Will recounted all that had happened and Tim's role in it. Finally, after much too long, Will took Tim to his mother's house, fed him and let him sleep, promising that they'd take care of his car and help him get back to DC.

Exhausted, Tim just agreed without thinking and fell asleep.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Okay, Boss. Let's go," Tony said.

Gibbs nodded and they got in the car and started driving.

After an hour of awkward silence, they saw a forest looming up ahead of them.

"It's a forest, Boss. I didn't see it last night. How could we have missed it?"

"It was dark. We were tired," Gibbs said.

"That tired, though?" Tony asked. "Well, maybe we'll find something."

They drove through the forest and saw nothing until they came around a corner and saw a sign.

"Ashland? That's not it."

"Could be here, though."

"True."

They drove into the small town and parked on the street. There seemed to be a lot of people, as if they'd come into some kind of festival.

"Well?" Tony asked.

"Got to start somewhere," Gibbs said. He started walking to the café.

As they got closer, there was a voice they recognized.

"Really, ma'am. I am so full I'm going to explode if I eat anymore."

"You're too skinny! You should eat more."

"I promise that I'll eat more, but can I spread it out over a few days?"

"Mom, let Tim decide how much he's ready to eat. He didn't starve overnight."

"After all that he did for you..."

"Really, ma'am, it's fine. You gave me somewhere to sleep and the best breakfast I've had in years, probably. I'm fine."

They came level with the café and saw Tim sitting at a table with another man and an older woman standing over him with a tray of food.

"Tim!" Tony said with relief.

Tim jumped and looked at them with an expression of surprise.

"Boss... Tony... What are you doing _here_?"

"Looking for you."

"But why?"

"After that message you left on my phone?" Tony asked.

Tim's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about that after..." He trailed off and looked at Will.

A sure sign that he was hiding something. He looked back.

"You want to help me eat this mountain of food that Will's mom keeps forcing on me?"

"Oh, please, sit down! Any friend of Tim's."

She gestured enthusiastically and Tony was happy enough to join Tim. Gibbs sat down, too.

"I'll give Mom a hand," Will said and got up, leaving the three of them alone.

"What happened, Tim?" Tony asked. "You sounded pretty scared in the message."

"Well, my car broke down. Stupid rental. I should have just waited until my car got fixed. It was the middle of the woods. Will was being chased by...some kind of wolf or coyote pack, and with my car not working, we had to fend them off. Never been hunted before. By the time we could make our way back here, I'd totally forgotten about my phone and everything. I didn't even _think_ about you guys looking for me. I'm really sorry."

Tony furrowed his brow. What Tim said was believable...but for some reason, that made it _un_ believable. He waited for Gibbs to say something more, but he didn't.

"You all right, then?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, Boss. I'm fine. Really. I slept for a couple of hours when we got here and I just got up. Will said that my car is being fixed, something about the alternator."

Will's mom came back in with three plates piled high with food.

"I really can't eat anymore," Tim said, but he was smiling.

She didn't listen and left the plates on the table.

"The food is really good," Tim said. "I've already eaten about three days' worth of breakfasts."

The food looked amazing and Tony was hungry. So he and Gibbs ate in silence. After a few minutes, Tim looked at them with a furrowed brow.

"So...how long were you looking for me?" he asked.

"All night. We had Abby trying to track your phone. We put out a BOLO on your car."

"Really? Wow. Just because of my message?"

"We were worried, McGee," Tony said.

"Thanks."

Tim actually seemed touched that they would take all this time to look for him. Tony was surprised by his reaction.

"Tim, your car is done."

"Oh! Great!"

Tim got up and paused.

"I'll be right back."

Then, he left. Tony looked at Gibbs.

"He's hiding something."

"Yeah."

"Aren't you going to ask him about it?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "He's doing better than he was. Whatever it was is good. That's what matters."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Don't ask what you owe, Tim. You're not paying," Will said.

Tim smiled. "You're making more out of this than you should."

"No, I'm making out of this exactly what I should. You don't understand how amazing it feels to not have the possibility of death hanging over me at every moment. Every person in this town knew that he could have been chosen. That's gone, now. It might take a few years to really believe it, but we have that, now."

"You were there, too."

"Yeah. It took a stranger to help us destroy ourselves. It took another stranger to help us save ourselves. I just want us to remember it."

"I hope you can."

"You'll be part of it, Tim. Always. Thank you."

"Thank _you_ ," Tim said, shaking Will's hand. "As bad as it was, I think it helped me, too."

They said their good-byes and then, Tim went back to the café.

"Hey, Boss. My car's all done. I'm ready to get going, if you guys are."

Gibbs gave him a look that said he knew that Tim wasn't telling them everything, but there was also the feeling that sharing more wasn't required. Tim was glad of that. This whole thing had been hard enough without telling people who wouldn't believe it. He knew that he himself wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened to him. Best just to let it lie.

Still, Gibbs scrutinized him, and Tim wasn't sure why. He hadn't told anyone why he'd taken the time off. He hadn't told them about trying to get back to some of the places where he'd actually been happy with his father. He hadn't said anything about struggling to accept his father's decision, even months after the fact. So he wasn't sure what had brought this on.

Then, after a few awkward seconds, Gibbs just nodded, indicating that he was willing to let it go if that was what Tim wanted.

"You sure you're all right?"

"Yeah. A good night's sleep and I'll be fine."

"Okay."

Tim walked back to his car, and he thought Tony and Gibbs went to theirs, but right as he was getting in, there was a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned.

"Tony! I thought that you were with Gibbs."

"He's filling it up. I know you're not telling us everything."

"What do you think I'm not telling?"

"Probably the most important stuff, but I don't care about that. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I told you that, already."

"Not about this stuff," he said, gesturing around the town. "I mean the stuff that had you taking the time off in the first place."

 _I should have realized Tony would notice. He's weird like that. Obvious things pass him by, but the hidden stuff he sees right away,_ Tim thought to himself. He looked around, feeling awkward about it. Then, he forced himself to look at Tony.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I really am."

"So this helped?"

Not bothering to specify what _this_ was, Tim nodded.

"Good. I'll see you back in DC, then."

"Yeah."

Tony walked away, and Tim got in his car. He drove back to DC, went back to his apartment and fell asleep almost instantly.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

 _He opened his eyes and saw the bright, glowing blue. He sat up, barely suppressing a scream._

" _You want them to be free?"_

" _Yes."_

 _The eyes hovered over him. They were all he could see. Nothing more._

 _For a long time, there was silence. Just those eyes, staring at him._

 _Then..._

" _They live."_

 _The eyes faded away._

Tim opened his eyes and looked around.

A dream?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But for the people of Ashland, at least, it was over.

FINIS!


End file.
